A Sabbath-Rest

Thursday, April 07, 2011, 7:56 a.m. – When I woke this morning, the song, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, was playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Hebrews 4:1-13:

A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

My Understanding: Several questions came to mind when I read these verses.

What is this Sabbath-Rest?

As I read through this passage of scripture in Hebrews 4, with the intent of answering this question, I realized that Sabbath-Rest is directly related to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and entering into relationship with Jesus Christ through faith in what he did for us in dying on the cross for our sins and in rising from the dead.

In Heb. 4:1 we read that we need to be careful that we have not been found to have fallen short of it. That phrase, “fallen short of it,” had a ring of familiarity to it. Romans 3:23 says this: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In context, the verse reads like this: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” In our flesh natures we fall short of attaining God’s glory (his divine character, nature, and personality, righteousness and purity) in our lives. We can only attain the glory of God in our lives through faith in Jesus Christ and what he did for us when he died on the cross for our sins.

Heb. 4:2, referring back to v. 1 with the preposition “for,” states that “we also have had the gospel preached to us…” So, v. 2 makes a direct connection between “Sabbath-Rest” and belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then, Heb. 4:6 also makes the association between this “rest” and the gospel when it states that “those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.” So, now there not only is a direct link between this “rest” and belief in the gospel, but there is also an obvious relationship among the gospel, obedience, and entering into God’s rest, which means there is an explicit correlation between belief in the gospel message and obedience to Christ, too.

That takes me, then, to Heb. 4:7 where it says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” This quote was also used twice in Heb. 3. The first quote in Heb. 3 was preceded by this verse: “But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” And, it was followed by these verses: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.”

So, here I see a precise relationship among this “Sabbath-rest”, the gospel of Jesus Christ, belief in Jesus Christ and what he did for us on the cross and in rising from the dead, obedience to Christ, holding on to our hope of which we boast (proclaim belief), not having sinful, unbelieving hearts that turn away from God, not being hardened against the things of God via sin’s deceitfulness, and holding firmly till the end the confidence we had at first in Christ Jesus, i.e. true faith is faith that turns from sin, that walks in obedience to Christ, and it is faith that lasts.

So, this Sabbath-rest is spiritual and eternal and has to do with our faith (accompanied by action in keeping with the faith we profess) in the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is that he (God/Jesus) died on the cross, taking upon himself all of our sins, he was crucified and buried, and our sins were crucified and buried with him. Then, he rose from the grave, leaving our sins dead and buried, triumphing over them victoriously through his resurrection so that we could go free from the penalty of sin (hell) and the control of and bondage to sin on a day-to-day basis. As well, he freed us to be slaves to Christ, as his servants to obey him, and to be slaves of righteousness where we once had been slaves to sin and depravity.

How do we enter that rest?

We enter that rest, as has already been stated, through faith in Jesus Christ and what he did for us in dying for our sins and then in rising from the dead, triumphing victoriously over hell, Satan, death and sin – the penalty of sin (hell) and the control of sin over our daily lives. Faith has been defined here as obedience, not having sinful and unbelieving hearts that turn away from God, not hardening our hearts through sin’s deceitfulness against the things of God and his will for our lives, and holding firmly to the hope and the faith we profess with the confidence we had when we first believed, and to do this to the end. This salvation-rest is, thus, entered into only by faith in Jesus Christ and in what he did for us. What this means is that we believe in what Jesus taught, who he was/is, what he stood and stands for and in what he did for us on the cross and through his resurrection in freeing us from lives of sin and freeing us to walk in obedience to him, free from the control of sin.

So, to believe in the gospel message means that we leave our lives of sin behind us, we yield control of our lives to Jesus Christ with him now as our Master, and then we go forward in his grace and his strength within us to walk in faith, righteousness and obedience to his commands. I believe that even the faith to believe is a gift from God, so even this kind of faith is a work of God’s grace within us as we say “Yes” to Jesus and we allow him to work within us, not merely in removing the penalty of sin from our lives, but in delivering us from the control of sin on a day-to-day basis, and in giving us the grace and strength we need to live in his righteousness, holiness and in his purity. So, this is not works-based salvation. We cannot do anything in our own flesh to earn our own salvation. It only comes through completely resting in Jesus Christ and allowing him to do his work within us.

What are the warnings here with regard to not entering that rest?

Heb. 4:1 cautions us to “be careful” that we not fall short of entering into God’s rest. As well, v. 2 alerts us to make sure that our hearing of the gospel message is accompanied by true faith. V. 7 warns us against hardening our hearts against the truth of the gospel message, and v. 11 signals us that we should make every effort to enter that rest - not a call to works-based salvation, but an exhortation to enter God’s salvation-rest through faith in Jesus Christ, and to not let that opportunity slip by us while we still have today, and salvation is still available to us.

We have already learned that true faith involves repentance (turning from sin), obedience to Christ, and steadfastness in the faith we profess to have attained. So many “gospel” messages these days are watered-down versions of the original gospel message, as was preached by Jesus Christ, and by his disciples and the apostles. Jesus said,

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:23-25)

And,

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me” (John 12:24-26).

So, if any man (or woman) comes to you preaching a different gospel than this one, don’t listen to him. We are not saved by going to an altar and praying a prayer if that prayer is not accompanied by true faith. We are not saved through religious rituals and rites. We are not saved through our good works nor are we saved by a “God does it all and nothing is required of us” attitude of mind, either. He calls us, he saves us, and he even gives us the faith to believe in him, so in that sense, God does it all, yet faith is not a mere acknowledgement of what Jesus did. True faith puts teeth to what we say we believe, i.e. true faith lives out what we profess to believe in, but even here, it is still the working of God’s grace within us as we cooperate with him in allowing him to do that work. A gospel that says that repentance and obedience are not necessary for salvation is a false gospel. So, if you are relying upon some one-time experience to have your ticket into heaven, and that faith you profess has not been accompanied by true repentance and obedience to Christ Jesus, then this “caution” to be careful that you don’t fall short is for you.

This passage concludes with one of my most favorite passages of scripture concerning the word of God. It is most certainly living and active. The word of God is not just a history book of stories of things that happened in the past. It is God’s living word to us today. And, it is still actively at work in the hearts of people in judging thoughts and attitudes of our hearts. We can’t hide anything from God – he sees it all! And, one day we will have to give an account to God concerning what we did with Jesus Christ and the message of the gospel. God knows whether or not our profession of him is accompanied by true faith, so make sure today, while we still have today, that your “faith” is founded in the truths of all of scripture with regard to what it means to be found in Jesus Christ as one who has genuine faith.

Gracious Father / An original work / April 6, 2011

How great are You Father; how great are You, Lord.
My heart so adores You; Your mercy outpour.

Your love and your kindness; Your gracious reward
Are treasures from heaven that we can’t afford.

So freely they’re given and humbly received
When we bow before You on penitent knee.

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